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Tuesday, May 05, 2015

The Olive Books

I discovered the book Olive and the Embarrassing Gift by Tor Freeman this year. It was a great story that made me smile so I bought a copy for the classroom. When I read it to my class, I realized it was a perfect read for 3rd graders. One of the things that is hard for me when being newish to a grade level is finding books that are a perfect fit. I am always looking for books with enough depth and things to talk about, but books that are simple enough that most kids can access in a mini lesson. It is often tricky in early 3rd grade to find the right types of books.

In this story, Olive gets a gift from her good friend. But she doesn't like the gift and is embarrassed to wear it. There is humor in the story and a great lesson. It is something 8 and 9 year-olds could relate to for sure. A fun story with lots to talk about.

I recently discovered that there are three Olive books in this series and I purchased them all because I think they are great for primary students to learn to talk about books and to revisit throughout the year. Knowing what a good conversation starter the first book was, I think getting to know Olive in three stories will be great fun! I think these three titles will naturally lead to great conversations around characters and theme.

Olive and the Bad Mood is about a day when Olive is a little grumpy with her friends. And Olive and the Big Secret is the story about Olive sharing a secret. I think these books are great for K-3 classrooms. Fun and simple but with lots of things to talk about!

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About Us

Franki and Mary Lee are both teachers, and have been for more than 20 years.

Franki is a third grade teacher. She is also the author of Beyond Leveled Books (Stenhouse), Still Learning to Read (Stenhouse), Day-to-Day Assessment in the Reading Workshop (Scholastic) and The Joy of Planning (Choice Literacy). She is also a regular contributor to Choice Literacy.

Mary Lee is a fifth grade teacher. She is also the author of Reconsidering Read-Aloud (Stenhouse) and has poems in the Poetry Friday Anthology, the Poetry Friday Anthology for Middle School, and the Poetry Friday Anthology for Science (Pomelo Books).